America Before The Entitlement State

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Reacting to calls for cuts in entitlement programs, House Democrat Henry Waxman fumed: “The Republicans want us to repeal the twentieth century.” Sound bites don’t get much better than that. After all, the world before the twentieth century–before the New Deal, the New Frontier, the Great Society–was a dark, dangerous, heartless place where hordes of Americans starved in the streets.

Except it wasn’t and they didn’t. The actual history of America shows something else entirely: picking your neighbors’ pockets is not a necessity of survival. Before America’s entitlement state, free individuals planned for and coped with tough times, taking responsibility for their own lives.

In the 19th century, even though capitalism had only existed for a short time, and had just started putting a dent in pre-capitalism’s legacy of poverty, the vast, vast majority of Americans were already able to support their own lives through their own productive work. Only a tiny fraction of a sliver of a minority depended on assistance and aid–and there was no shortage of aid available to help that minority.

But in a culture that revered individual responsibility and regarded being “on the dole” as shameful, formal charity was almost always a last resort. Typically people who hit tough times would first dip into their savings. They might take out loans and get their hands on whatever commercial credit was available. If that wasn’t enough, they might insist that other family members enter the workforce. And that was just the start.

“Those in need,” historian Walter Trattner writes, “. . . looked first to family, kin, and neighbors for aid, including the landlord, who sometimes deferred the rent; the local butcher or grocer, who frequently carried them for a while by allowing bills to go unpaid; and the local saloonkeeper, who often came to their aid by providing loans and outright gifts, including free meals and, on occasion, temporary jobs. Next, the needy sought assistance from various agencies in the community–those of their own devising, such as churches or religious groups, social and fraternal associations, mutual aid societies, local ethnic groups, and trade unions.”

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Obama has been a horrid president.

What was supposed to be a ”social safety net,” has become, under Obama, a foundation.
That’s what he has done.
Dan Cirucci has put together some more numbers:

Dismal Obama Economic Record: Figures Tell All

When it comes to President Obama’s economic record, the figures tell a dismal story. The President promised to “help the middle class retain a sense of economic security that will benefit the entire economy.” He did just the opposite.

Here are the details of Obamanomic’s abject failure:

Unemployment: The number of people unemployed has grown by over one million.
Long-term Unemployment: The average duration of unemployment has more than doubled, to an astonishing 40.8 weeks.
Jobs: Nearly 1.7 million jobs have been lost.
Income: Median household income has declined by nearly $1,000.
Poverty: The number of people in poverty has grown by over six million.
Hunger: Food stamp participation has increased by more than 14 million people, to a devastating 46.2 million.
Health Care: Average family health insurance premiums have increased by more than $1,500.
Energy: Gas prices have nearly doubled, to $3.38 per gallon.
Housing: Foreclosures have spiked to a record one-million-plus annually.
Debt: Each family’s share of the publicly-held national debt has skyrocketed by more than $35,000, to nearly $90,000.

By any viable measure, this record demands rejection.

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Today Drudge reports that:
Another Gov’t-funded solar company lays off most of staff…

Recovery suffers as Americans raid savings accounts…

IRAN TO RETURN LOST DRONE (as per Obama’s request) — A MINIATURE PINK PLASTIC ONE!

Obama = FAILURE on every level.

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@liberalmann:
RE:
http://articles.businessinsider.com/2011-07-19/markets/30079944_1_private-sector-public-sector-job-growth
Your chart looks at GDP without net government spending (AKA the deficit, AKA the difference between how much the government is pumping in via spending compared to how much its taking out via taxes).
So, the Solyndra loss of $500 MILLION is not shown here.
Nor any of the Obama picks of winners and LOSERS.
Also not shown the uncertainty Obama causes that leads businessmen like Wynn to sit on the sidelines, only hiring when absolutely necessary.
How long will Obama dither before allowing the Keystone pipeline to be built? (You know he’ll OK it.)

RE:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/rf/image_606w/2010-2019/WashingtonPost/2011/07/25/Blogs/ezra-klein/StandingArt/debt%20changes%20under%20bush%20obama.jpg?uuid=qZCizrbZEeCYzBMQCYwsyQ
Stark testimony to the admission by the CBO that garbage in = garbage out.
You and I both know ObamaCare front loads so that Obama won’t hit Americans with the true cost of the monstrosity until his 2nd term, or after he is gone.
Cute graphic, though.

RE:
http://articles.businessinsider.com/2011-12-07/politics/30485008_1_unemployment-rate-obama-election-day
Note this chart of the day was called:
Here’s The One Unemployment Chart Obama Will Use To Win Reelection
And why is it the ONLY one unemployment chart Obama will use?
Well, this one shows a trend line that takes YEARS before things get back to where they were when Obama took office.
And this one shows how bad it is in the civilian workforce, not JUST the non-farm workforce.

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